
Qass. 
Book 



.G fc^ 




THE SIN OF REVILING, AND ITS WORK. 



FCNEEAL SEEMOS, 

i 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



April 14th, 1865. 



W. R. GORDON, D.D., 

CASTOR OF TH£ RKF. PROT. DUTCH OHt!R<":H OF SOHRAA I.ENBERG, K. J. 

Preached on May 7, ISO.'i. 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF CONSISTORY. 



lleiD-fork: 
JOHN A. GRAY & GREEN, PRINTERS, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET. 

1865. >C4/ 



\a ^ 



THE SIN OF REVILING, AND ITS WORK. 



FUNERAL SERMON, 

OCCASIONED BY THE ASSASSINATION OF 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 

April 14th, 1865. 

BY 

W. E. GORDON, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE KEF. PKOT. DUTCH CHUECH OF SCHKAALENBEEG, N. J. 

Preached on May 7, 1865. 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF CONSISTORY. 



JOHX A. GRAY & GREEX, PRINTERS, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET. 

1865. 




.8 ' 



SERMON. 



Acts 23 : 5. 

It is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people. 

The connection of this text contributes mucli to make it 
emphatic. Paul had been rescued from the violence of a Jew- 
ish mob by a miltary force, whose captain had subsequently 
assembled the Sanhedrim to try his case. The High-Priest 
then presiding was bound to protect the prisoner in the right 
of making his defence, but he was guilty of the outrage of 
commandino; them that stood nearest to smite him on the 
mouth. Paul's instinctive indignation prompted him to re- 
turn this answer : " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall ; 
for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest 
me to be smitten contrary to the law ?" 

Horrified by this unexpected display of daring boldness, 
some of the members of that notable court thus remonstrated : 
" Kevilest thou God's high-priest ?" Paul, not recognizing his 
claim to that office illegally procured, or having been so long 
absent from Jerusalem that he was not aware of the change 
made in the incumbent, immediately said in extenuation of 
his haste : " I wist not, brethren, that he was the high-priest ; 
for it is written. Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy 
people." This special prohibition is found in Ex. 22 : 28 : 
" Thou shalt not revile the judges, nor curse the ruler of thy 
people." 

God is the author of civil society. He has ordained laws 
for its protection and government, and a magistracy for their 
execution. He has also made special enactments, such as 
Paul quoted, for its safety in the execution of political trust, 



throwing around tlie office the solemn sanction of his author- 
ity. This was so well understood among the Jews, that how- 
ever obnoxious any jiarticular magistrate might become, his 
office was sure to protect him from wanton insult as well as 
from personal danger. Hence the exclamation, " Tievilest 
thou ?" Had not Paul explained, he would have been held 
guilty of a grave offence, since it was contrary to the law of 
Moses to sjieak ill of a magistrate, even in a clandestine man- 
ner. The highest office of government was especially held in 
reverence. Those who from neglect failed to render the ven- 
eration due to his character, liad given offence to the king, 
were liable to the infliction of capital punishment. Now 
there are many forms of evil-speaking, all of which are con- 
demned in the word of God, but the special form of the sin 
here spoken of, is that of keviling. 

But what is reviling ? It is treating a person with vile 
epithets of language, cursing him, wishing him harm, and 
loading his character with reproaches and railing accusation. 
WhocN'er did this among the Hebrews, respecting their Chief- 
Magistrate, though in private, subjected himself, upon discov- 
ery, to the penalty of death. How such revilers were regard- 
ed, and with what sentiments of abhorrence their sin was 
looked upon, we learn from scripture. The general law 
which should regulate i)ublic opinion on this point, is thus 
expressed by Solomon : " Curse not the king, no not in thy 
thoughts." A king is 6im]>ly the chief-magistrate in a mon- 
archy, and bears the same general relation to it that a presi- 
dent bears to a republic; and as the IJible is for all nations, it 
is evident that the law of God respecting magistracy is appli- 
cable to all forms of government among men. Keeping this 
in view, we shall readily understand that the teachings of 
Scripture must be supremely regarded by all Christian men, 
in the dischargi' <»f their cio'il as wi'll as religious duties. 

" My son, fear thou the Lord and the king ; and meddle not 
with them that are given t«> change." (Prov. 14 : 21.) 

" AVlios(X!vcr will not do the law of thy God and of the 
king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it 
be unto death, or to banishment, or to coniiscatiou of goods, 
or to iniprisoiunont." (Ezra 7 *. 2(!.} 



" Let every soul be subject unto tbe higher powers, for there 
is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of 
God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the 
ordinance of God ; and they that resist shall receive to them- 
selves damnation." (Rom. 13 : 1, 2.) 

"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake ; whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto 
governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punish- 
ment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. 
For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put 
to silence the ignorance of foolish men : as free, and not usma 

LIBEKTT FOR A CLOAK OF MALICIOUSNESS, but aS the SCrvautS of 

God. Fear God. Honor the king." (1 Peter 2 : 13-17.) 

" The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temp- 
tation, and to reserve the unjust unto the judgment-day to be 
punished ; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the 
lust of uncleanness, and despise governments. Presumptuous 
are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dig- 
nities ; whereas angels which are great in power and might 
bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord ; but 
these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, 
speak evil of the things that they understand not ; and shall 
utterly perish in their own corruption." (2 Peter 2 : 8-12.) 

Paul thus enjoins the duty of political preaching upon 
ministers : " Put them in mind to be subject to principalities 
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 
to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing 
all meekness unto all men." (Tit. 3:1,2.) 

Thus you will perceive, that God, having clothed magis- 
tracy with divine sanctions, has not only enforced obedience, 
but sternly denounced the sin of traducing those of high offi- 
cial character. The Thirty-seventh Article of Faith of the 
Eeformed Dutch Church accordinglv has this lanefuase : " It 
is the bounden duty of every one, of what state, quality, or 
condition soever he may be, to subject himself to the magis- 
trates ; to pay tribute, to show due honor and respect to them, 
and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the 
word of God ; to supplicate for them in their prayers. AVhere- 



6 

fore we detest the Anabaptists* and otlier seditious people, 
and in general all those who reject the higher powers and 
magistrates, and would sul)vert justice, and confound that de- 
cency and good order which God has established among men." 

From the authority quoted, we are warranted to make this 
seneral deduction : IIevilixg the President of the Untied 
States, is a crime against God, and against the Govern- 
ment. This we prove from two considerations. 

1. The practice of reviling is an abuse of the faculty c»f 
speech, and altogether reprehensible. It discovers in the 
guilty a bitterness of spirit, an envious nature, a malicious dis- 
position, the indulgence of which is sure to recoil upon them- 
selves. It makes them injurious members of society, corrupt- 
ing in their influence, and dangerous to public morals. Hence? 
according to Paul, such persons are not to be tolerated in the 
Church of God. " I have now written unto you not to keep 
company, if any man that is called a brother, be a ' fornicator, 
or covetous, or an indolater, or a railer — with such an one, 
no not to eat." " For neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk- 
ards, nor revileks shall inherit the kingdom of God." This 
text puts such persons in the worst of company, because they 
work ini(piity in the most dangerous way, " using liberty for 
a cloak of maliciousness ;" or as the Psalmist expresses it, they 
" whet their tongues like a sword, and bend their bows to 
shoot their arrows, even bitter words." The rcviler labors to 
fabricate a public sentiment which shall ultimately injure the 
man against whom he speaks. This is his direct object. Sol- 
omon says, " Death and life are in the })owcr of the tongue, 
and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof;" that is, they 
tliat h)ve to use the power of the tongue, shall reap tlie fruit 
of their speech, according as it is inlhiential to tlie di'atli or 
life of the jtersoii of wiioni they speak, "for hy tliy wm-ds 
thou hhalt be justilied, and liy tliy words tliou >hah he con- 
demned." 

In the Serinon dn the Mnunl, o\ir Saviour tlius discourses: 
"Ye have heard that it was said hy tliem o\' old tinu'. Thou 
shalt not kill, and whosoi'ver shall kill, >hall he in danger of 

* A 8uditiou8 Sfcl of llie hixtcciitli iiiilurv. 



the judgment ; but I say imto you, that whosoever is angry 
with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the 
judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca " — a 
word of bitter contempt — " shall be in danger of the council : 
but whosoever shall say, Tnou fool, shall be in danger of hell- 
fire." The original of the term translated " thou fool," is a very 
different thing from that word as now commonly used among us_ 
It signifies all those bad qualities that make one an enemy of 
God and man. "We have no single term in our language that 
can translate it. It combines the ideas of impiety, apostas}^, 
tyranny, odiousness of character, and hell-desert. "Whosoever 
uses these expressions of reviling to brand with infamy the 
fair name of any man, according to the exposition of Christ, is 
a murderer in his heart, and in danger of hell-fire. Hence 
John says : " Whosoever hatetli his brother is a murderer." 

2. Crimes are great or small in accordance with their issues, 
and the relative standing of those against whom they are com- 
mitted. The life of a man may be mainly valuable to himself, 
or beyond himself to a family, or beyond a family to a nation. 
Should he be murdered, the act is the same, whatever relations 
he may have held ; but the iniquity of the act must be gradu- 
ated by the value of the life, services, and position of the per- 
son thus felled by the hand of violence. This seems to have 
been always generally understood, for we find comparatively 
few instances in history of the assassination of men in high 
positions of political power. Julius Csesar was thus murdered 
in the Roman Senate, March fifteenth, forty-four years before 
Christ. "William, Prince of Orange, the founder of Dutch 
freedom, whose venerated name will ever be a blazing star in 
history, was assassinated at the instigation of the Jesuits, July 
tenth, A.D. 1584. Henry the Fourth, said to be the best king 
that ever occupied the throne of France, who granted to his 
Protestant subjects entire religious freedom by the Edict of 
Kantes, was also assassinated by the Jesuits, a.d. 1610. Our 
own noble Lincoln, the victim of an execrable conspiracy, was 
thus deprived of life, April fourteenth, a.d. 1865. 

Between each of these horrible tragedies there is, more or 
less, a long series of years ; and the inference is natural, that 
while assassins have been numerous, and murders multiplied 



8 

in every age, few have been found of courage sufficiently des- 
perate and despicable to strike at tbe lives of men in high 
official jiosition, notwithstanding greater exposure to the shafts 
of enmity. This has been owing, in a large measure, to the 
fact, that the common-sense of mankind has always been im- 
pressed with reverence for the office of chief ruler. lie who 
strikes at him who holds it, must fii'st strike at the office be- 
fore he can reach the officer ; and as a preparatory step, they 
who encourage the assassin by ^'cviling his victim, must be 
guilty of treasonable language against the government itself 
with whose interests the officer is intrusted. This is clear 
from the awful tragedy that has recently ovei'flowed our cup 
of affliction. IsTo one had any j)e7'sonal quarrel Avith Mr. Lin- 
coln, but as President, he was reviled ; as President, he was 
hated ; as President, he was murdered. 

No matter to what party our Chief-Magistrate may belong, 
no matter what policy he may adopt in the sworn execution of 
his trust, the simple facts of his election and assumption of 
the oath of office imply a corresponding obligation upon the 
part of the whole people whose common service he enters, to 
protect him from defamation as well as from danger. This 
principle lies at the basis of all law, fur however we may 
separate them in thought, government and its administration 
practifiilly are indivisi])le ; for one without the otlier is a mere 
altstractiun. A pohtical heresy is afloat, tliat the government 
and its administration are so entirely ditlerent, that the former 
shall not sutler, tliougli the hitter be assailed and hurled from 
its place. This is al^surd. You might as well say, life and the 
machinery of life are two diffi}rent things, therefore the ma- 
chinery may be disarranged without the life being endangered. 
Ko, the office, and the utlicer legally installed, must share the 
same protection. Now as reviling a rider and his official acts 
leads to wrath, and M'ratli to conspiracies, and conspiracies to 
personal danger, it is clear that this reviling is criminal, be- 
cause it is both incipient treason and the su])jiort (»f felons, 
who j)lead it in exteniiati»»n of their crimes. Moreover, as 
tresisunable words lead to treasonable deeds, even to the ex- 
tent of overt crime, as in the case of (tur late President, the 
guilt of the latter fearfully recoils up<tii all who, in violation 



9 

ot tlie citizen's obligation while enjoying liis privileges, liave 
abnsed and persecnted the honest niler who has fallen a vic- 
tim to consequent violence, because they have helped to man- 
ufacture a treasonable public sentiment pervading a mischiev- 
ous faction, which has issued in the blackest crime. 

Therefore while in human law there was but one murderer of 
our Chief-Magistrate, according to divine law there are hun- 
dreds of them, and perhaps thousands who survive the single 
wretch. That the doctrine of the Scriptures on this point is not 
misstated, we prove by brief references. Paul says : " Be not 
partaker of other men's sins," That this does not refer mere- 
ly to busy accomplices, we prove from 2 John 11 : " He that 
hiddeth him God sj)eed, is partaker of his evil deedsP I^ow 
here is the annunciation of a general principle whose spirit 
pervades the whole Bible — Ps. 51 : 14; Acts 8:1; Luke 23 : 
51 ; and in the light of it, we say that whoever applauds this 
crime, or feels a secret satisfaction that it has been done, or 
thinks well of it, as a happy stroke by which the hated ruler 
has been put out of the way, is a murderer in his heart, and 
as such he is regarded and held by the law of God. Thus we 
think it becomes evident, that reviling the President of the 
United states is a crime against God, and against the Govern- 
ment under which we live, and should meet with its proper 
punishment ; for if a bad magistrate must be protected in his 
office until legally removed, what must be the guilt of that 
portion of any people who, " using liberty as a cloak of mali- 
ciousness," revile a good magistrate, until his innocent life be 
taken by some villain whose bloody work is an agreeable sur- 
prise to their criminal hearts ? 

That Abraham Lincoln was a good magistrate is the unani- 
mous verdict of all competent to pronounce upon the subject. 
His qualities of intellectual and moral worth have shone all the 
more conspicuously for incessant use, and the friction of hard 
trials. We do not intend to speak of him as a private citizen, 
but as the Kuler of his people. Called to the administration 
when the horrible crime of the South, which had been ma- 
turing for more than thirty years, had culminated in treason 
no less wide-spread than malignant ; beset with unusual diffi- 
culties and novel dangers, and a man untried and unknown to- 



10 

the mass of tlie people, he was at the mercy of that power for 
good and evil, the public press. By the hostile portion of it 
he was bitterly assailed in a reviling spirit, and before he had 
entered upon the discharge of his duties, this reviling had pre- 
pared for him the pistol and dagger of the assassin ; but having 
made his way though danger to the Capitol, he fearlessly took 
the oath of office amid a multitude of political friends and foes. 
During the delivery of his first inaugural address, the lamented 
Douglas, his rival, beautifully showed by a courteous act, that 
political opposition need not be in conflict with personal friend- 
ship. The feeling was mutual. One of our neighbors* visited 
the President last May, and during the interview, informed him 
that at his first election he had voted for his opponent, where- 
upon Mr. Lincoln led off in a eulogy upon Mr. Douglas, de- 
claring a purpose to employ his own pen in doing justice to 
his character. We mention this only to show, that opposition 
to a chief-magistrate purely on principles of admini>trative 
policy is perfectly fair, and by no means inconsistent with the 
honor or duty of any citizen. Oh I if all men had followed the 
example of these jjolitical opponents who thought and spoke 
well of each other, our country would not now be draped in 
mourning for the death of her Chief, nor humbled by the 
crime of parricide. But the deed is done, and a nation's flow- 
ing tears and expensive testimonials are demonstrative of the 
fact that no ruler exalted to the highest seat of honor in 
the wide world, has ever been so lovingly clasped by millions 
of hearts whose aftections were drawn out by the attractions 
of his character. 

Our martyr patriot was providentially placed, from the 
very outset, in the midst of the strangest and most embar- 
rassing dillicultics tliat ever arose in our country, llis novel 
situation awoke the liveliest interest in his belialf, as well as 
great anxiety as to his iitness for the perilous exigencies of the 
hour. His enenues were multiplied by the revilings of the 
advei*se portion of the press, which had succeeded in I'xeiting 
some little fear :ini«>ng his friends; but the first thing that 
ixssured their confidence was his farewell address when he left 

• lion. Tlioiiiii- H. Iliir'm;'. 



11 

his Illinois home. In that speech, on Februaiy eleventh, 
1861, he said : 

"A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than 
that which has devolved npon any man since the days of 
Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the 
aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. 
I feel that I cannot succeed, without the same divine aid 
which sustained him ; and on the same Almighty Being I 
place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, 
will all pray that I may receive that divine assistance without 
which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain," 

This earnest, touching appeal made its way directly to 
every Christian heart. It drew out the sympathy of the wise 
and the good of other lands besides our own, as the morning 
sun draws vapors from the earth ; and from that hour the 
breath of prayer has been burdened for him, until he reached 
the happy place where dangers no more cluster, where prayer 
is no more needed. 

It was not long before the private life of Abkaham Lestcoln 
became familiar to the people. Made to pass under the se- 
verest scrutiny of a merciless investigation, like the unfallen 
snow, it was found spotless, his enemies being judges. This 
result of their diligence ought to have operated in his favor, 
but it did not seem in the least to abate their rancor or revil-, 
ing. If not as bad as he might be, he must be made out 
worse than he was, purely as a political measure ! Though 
reviled, he reviled not again, but uncomplainingly and pa- 
tiently set to work to subdue a gigantic rebellion the like of 
which the world never saw. Fully impressed with the stu- 
pendous issues to be determined by this conflict, he rose to 
the dignity of the position, realized its vast responsibility, and 
with an unfaltering trust in God, pursued a steady course 
marked by wisdom, and revealing the patriotic purpose to re- 
store peace to our land preserved from the execution of the 
horrid design of the most desperate foe. How well he suc- 
ceeded, none need now be told. Whatever may have been 
said to the contrary, circumstances, purposes, plans carried 
out, conquests, and steady progress have proved that he was a 
man exactly adapted to the situation : of quick perception ; 



12 

of calm and sound judgment ; and of great intellectual and 
executive ability. Ilis integrity of heart, honesty of aim, 
truthfulness of nature, his gentleness in firmness, his thought- 
ful prudence, his loving-kindness and social turn, his subordi- 
nation of all to an incorruptible patriotism, and his hearty 
reliance on God for every thing needed to insure success, not 
only expressed publicly and in private, but manifested by 
daily expositions of conduct, formed the rarest assemblage of 
dignifying qualities that ever shone in human character, as a 
constellation in mid-heaven. 

Four years of hard trial only served to burnish the gold 
and remove the dross. The hearts of the people lodged full 
confidence in him, and this they proved to him by the im- 
mense majorities M'itli Avhicli he was carried into the second 
term ot ofiice. He was so devoid of ambition, so fully in love 
with the right, so bent upon doing his whole duty, so devoted 
to the best interests of his country, and yet so mercifully in- 
clined toward the rebels, that the people saw at once, by the 
light of the past, that he was the best one to trust for the fu- 
ture, until our calamities should vanish away. If any addi- 
tional pledge for this popular confidence was needed, it was 
given in his second inaugural, which, alas ! proved to be his 
farewell address. lie concluded it in these memorable words : 

" With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firm- 
ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
to finish the Avork we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widows and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 
natiuns." 

Shortly after tin's, he had the satisfaction to sec the rebel- 
lion broken down ; but O nwv niislortunc I Only one month 
aiul ten days elapsed, when the assassin reached and took his 
life : yet liis work was done, and well do\H\ and Ahuaham 
Lincoln, washed with tears, Avas end)almed in the inij>erisli- 
able love of a grateful pi'ople. 

That he was not oidy a good magistrate, but also a Christ- 
ian man, 1 must believe fn»m two facts. J lis sterling honesty 
was proverbial, and had become so inwrought in his nature by 



13 

long habit, that he never conlcl have been a successful hypo- 
crite, if he had tried ; therefore his uniform out-spoken faith 
in God's favoring providence, hope in his goodness, and trust 
in his mercy, must be accepted as proof of his Christianity. 
I^ever since my remembrance, and perhaps never, have we 
had a President so free from the common frailties of men 
top-mast in position, and so liberal of devout sentiment evi- 
dently real, in his public utterances. His pastor surely is a 
competent witness. " I speak," said he, " what I know, and 
testify what I have often heard him say, when I affii*m that God's 
guidance and mercy were the props on which he humbly and 
habitually leaned ; that they were the best hope he had for 
himself and for his country." " Never shall I forget the em- 
phasis and the deep emotion with which he said in this very 
room to a company of clergymen and others who called to 
pay him their respects in the darkest day of om' civil conflict : 
' Gentlemen, my hope of success in this great and terrible 
struggle rests on that immutable foundation, the justness and 
goodness of God. And when events are very threatening, 
and prospects very dark, I still hope that in some way which 
man cannot see, all will be well in the end, because our cause 
is just, and God is on our side.' " 

But, it is said, Mr. Lincoln perished in a theatre. "We rea- 
dily grant that he ought not to have been there. "We regret 
it, because we believe the theatre to be the devil's school- 
house ; but at the same time we lament to say many profess- 
ing Christians have been there before him, by whose base ex- 
ample he might have been misled. "We do not excuse him ; 
but we must state in fairness to all concerned, that he was 
there, more from a desire not to disappoint an expectant audi- 
ence, than from any self-prompting. 

Passing this, we adduce, in further proof of his Christian 
character, this fact, as given by Rev. Mr. Carey, of Illinois : 

"A gentleman, having recently visited "Washington on 
business with the President, was, on leaving home, requested 
by a friend to ask Mr. Lincoln whether he loved Jesus. The 
business being completed, the question was kindly asked. 
The President buried his face in his handkerchief, turned 
away, and wept. He then turned, and said : ' "Wlien I left 



14 

liome to take tlie chair of state, I requested my countrymen 
to pray for me : I was not then a Christian. When my son 
died, the sorest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But 
when I went to Gettyshurgh, and looked upon the graves oi 
our dead heroes, who had fallen in the defence of their coun- 
try, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Ida love 
Jesus.^ " 

Such is the living character of this good man and honest 
ruler upon whom reviling tongues and pens huunded the as- 
sassin. As far as known, he never had a personal enemy until 
he undertook to save his dear Columbia from assassination, 
and when he had succeeded, and because he had succeeded, 
he was assassinated himself. Faithful Lincoln died ; Co- 
lumbia his passionate lover lives, and weeps upon his coffin. 
Henceforth, Mount Vernon and Oak Kidge Cemetery shall 
share her love, and be kept green by the watering of her 
tears. 

" In the God of battles trust ! 

Die we may — die wc must ; 

But oh ! where can dust to dust 
Be consigned so well, 

As where heaven its dews shall shed 

On the martyred patriot's bed, 

And the rocks shall raise their head 
Of his deeds to tell ?" 

Of all the distinguished rulers of the earth, no other one 
has ever been burne to the tomb amid such extensive prepara- 
tions to do him honor. His funeral procession may be said 
to have been iiiori' tlian one thousand miles long! On each 
side of the track over whicli the escort passed, mourning citi- 
zens did all that the ingenuity of aifection could devise, by 
(hiy and liy niglit, to testify their sense of the great loss sus- 
tained ; and in that portl^ni of it which streamed through the 
city of New-York, taking hours to pass a given point, none 
had a better right than the lowly company of blacks repre- 
senting tlie freednien, wlio regarded the President as their 
" good friend.'" They carrictl a plain white l)anner, bearing 
these touching mottoes: " ( )iir Kmaiiciiialor.'" " To thou- 
sands of l)on(bnen he gave lilicrty," \ cs, the poor tortured 



15 

slave never drew more largely upon any heart that ached for 
his relief. Mr. Lincoln believed in universal freedom to all 
God's creatures. He showed how deeply he felt, that 

" Fleecy locks and black complexion 
Cannot forfeit nature's claim ; 
Skins may differ, but affection 
Dwells in black and white the same." 

God rules, and most fearfully has he answered the prayers, 
and the groans, and the tears of millions in this land, who have 
lived and died the victims of heart-rending oppression. God 
has so combined circumstances in his wonder-working provi- 
dence, that the mad fanaticism of slavery insulting freedom 
should be the means of its own extinction amid the execra- 
tions of the world ; and the terrihU ret7'ihution comes by the 
hands of one elevated to honor and power from -among the 
most despised class of the Southern population ! History, in 
doing justice to our " Great Emancipator," will inscribe upon 
his tablet the sentiment of Cowper to Wilberforce : 

" Enjoy what thou hast won, esteem and love, 
From all the just on earth, and all the blest above." 

But it will no doubt be said, that superlative eulogy upon 
the departed must be expected from his admirers ; and while 
the late catastrophe will dispose all to silent acquiescence, yet 
the proper discount must not be forgotten in the due estimate 
of his character. To meet this in advance, we shall seek our 
justification in quotations from those very prints that have 
done the most for his defamation. A world-wide celebrated 
sheet, well known for the bitterness of its opposition to Mr. 
Lincoln when he was alive, upon the announcement of his 
tragic death put on mourning ; and, under the date of April 
seventeenth, thus soberly discoursed : 

" When the most experienced and reputable statesmen of 
the country came to opposite conclusions, it is creditable to 
the strength, solidity, and modesty of Mr. Lincoln's mind that 
he acted with a cautious and hesitating deliberation propor- 
tioned rather to a sense of his great responsibilities than to a 



16 

theatrical notion of political stage eflect." " If we look tor 
the elements of character which have contributed to the ex- 
traordinary and constantly growing popularity of Mr, Lin- 
coln, they are not far to seek. The kindly, companionable, 
jovial turn of his dispqsition, free from every taint of atfecta- 
tion, puerile vanity, or parvenu insolence, conveyed a strong 
impression of worth, sense, and solidity, as well as goodness 
of heart. lie never disclosed the slightest symptom that he 
was dazzled or elated by his great position, or that it was in- 
cumbent upon him to be any body but plain Abraham Lin- 
coln." " His freedom fi'om any such ujjstart atfectatiuns Avas 
one of the good points of his character ; it betokened his 
genuineness and sincerity." " The total abstinence from Mr. 
Lincoln's sentiments and bearing of any thing lofty or chival- 
ric, and the hesitating slowness of his decisions, did not de- 
note any feebleness of character. lie has given a signal 
proof of a strong and manly nature in the fact, that although 
he surrounded himself with the most considerable and experi- 
enced statesmen of his party, none of them were able to take 
advantage of his inexperience and gain any conspicuous as- 
cendency over him. All his chief decisions have l)een his 
own ; formed, indeed, after mucli anxious and brooding con- 
sultation, but in the final result, the fruit of his own inde- 
pendent volition." " The loss of such a man, in such a crisis ; 
of a man who possessed so large and growing a share of the 
public confidence, and whose administration has recently bor- 
rowed new lustre from the crowning acliievements of our ar- 
mies ; of a ruler whom victory was inspiring with the wise 
and paternal magnanimity which sought to make the concili- 
ation as cordial as the strife has been deadly : the loss of such 
a President, at such a conjuncture, is an afflicting disi^ensa- 
tion which bows a disapi)ointed and stricken nation in sorrow 
more deep, sincere, and universal tlian ever before su})}»licated 
the compassion of pitying Heaven.'* 

This is well sai<l, and has only the disadvantage of being 
extorted truth. Coming from the editorial colnmns of the 
print referred to, and jnit in contrast with its former relentless 
persecution of this gond man. and nnw confessedly, well-de- 
serving I'residcnt, it niii.-t he iM-rtcctiv aina/.ing to all those 



17 

who have accredited it with honesty, and Iiave yielded tlieir 
feelings to its guidance. 

Again, we take up another widely circulated daily news- 
paper of the same date, still more remarkahle for its vitupe- 
rative language. About a month before his death, referring 
to- the President and Vice-President, it informed us that we 
had " a jester and a drunkard at the head of the Govern- 
ment." But now we find it in mourning too, and pouring out 
incense to the former victim of its gross abuse. We read ;the 
following : ;. 

" It is as if a pall overhung the land, and in the shadojv of 
it dwelled a chilled and awe-struck people. A brotherhood 
of sorrow — sorrow so poignant that it makes strong men 
weep, and veteran soldiers shudder — has brought all classes 
and all parties to the drear level of companions in misfor- 
tune." "And indeed it has rarely happened that a people 
have been visited with such cause for lamentation. Had it 
pleased God, by disease or accident, to take from us our 
Chief-Magistrate, the stroke would have been less ; but to see 
him stricken down by the brutal rage of an assassin, mur- 
dered at the very threshold of the gate of peace he was about 
to open, abruptly hurled from his sphere of usefulness at the 
crisis of the Ilepublic's fate, in such a misfortune, all that is 
horrible and pitiable and calamitous has been concentrated 
into one fatal moment to overwhelm the country with afflic- 
tion." " Mr. Lincoln, of those in power, was the best friend 
of the South. In his kind-heartedness, he withstood and baf- 
fled the vindictiveness and fanaticism of the radicals of his 
party. It is known that he had prepared and was about to 
publish a Proclamation of General Amnesty, so conciliatory 
in its tone, and so honorable in its conditions, that it would 
have been acceptable to a large portion of the South, as well 
as the conservative people of the ISTorth." " JSTo fitter requiem 
to Abraham Lincoln than the song of ]jeace swelling from the 
grateful hearts of his countrymen." 

These editorials go to the extreme of eulogy, and while 
they are gratifying to the friends of the deceased, though 
coming in strange contrast with previous ones of a very oppo- 
site character from the same source, they must be amazing 
2 



18 

to his enemies, whom they thus acknowledge to have deceived 
by a false presentation and cniel persecution of a character 
the most illustrious among men. The formers and leaders of 
opinions which have been encouragement to " Knights of the 
Golden Circle," and to traitors of every hue, present beautiful 
sketches of the moral and official worth of the man whom, 
when living, they reviled ; when dead, they affect to honor ! 

In the progress of the latter panegjTic, we meet the excla- 
mation : " O the disgrace of it, the shame of it, the peril, if 
ever that crime should be identified with the American char- 
acter !" Now, with the American character it can never be 
identified ; the loyal masses have taken care of that : but with 
those who have employed the press, in the detestable service 
of reviling, it must be identified by the law of God, and the 
rectified opinion of people betrayed into a vindictive feeUng 
against the ruler of our country. Did the bullet of the assas- 
sin suddenly change a tyrant into "the best friend of the 
South" ? " O shame ! where is thy blush ?" 

Although these utterances, if honest, can be considered 
only as intonations of the penitence of remorse, we gladly 
accept them as confirmatory of what has been said in simple 
justice to the distinguished character of the honored dead. 
" lie rests from his labors, and his works do follow him." 
" The righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance ; 
but the name of the wicked shall rot." " Blessed are they 
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the 
kingdom of God." "Wliile American literature shall last, 
Bryant's beautiiul couimcmorativc poem shall live : 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

() slow to smite, and swift to spare, 

(iontle, and merciful, and just! 
Who in the fear of (!od didst bear 

The sword of power, a nation's trust ! 

In sorrow by thy bier wo stand. 

Amid the awe that luishcs all. 
And speak the an^;iii.sh of a land 

That shook with liurror at thy fall. 



19 

Thy task is done ; the bond are free ; 

We bear thee to an honored grave, 
Whose proudest monument shall be 

The broken fetters of the slave. 

Pure was thy life ; its bloody close 
Hath placed thee with the sons of light, 

Among the noble hosts of those 
Who perished in the cause of Right. 

Before closing, I wisli to impress upon my hearers that I 
speak from no partisan feeling, nor in the interest of any party 
or administration as such, but in the behalf of our Govern- 
ment and the Rulers of our people. Any other course would 
be a desecration of Sabbath and Pulpit, and an imposition 
upon my audience. But let it be understood, that while party 
politics must not be brought into the sphere of religion, reli- 
gion must be carried into politics, because God has commanded 
it. All the old Prophets were politicians, and the leaders of 
political opinion. They gave constant instruction to the 
people, on the subject of their political duties ; and Paul, the 
Apostle, as you have heard, is very emphatic on this point. 
Every gospel minister is bound, by his example, to enforce in 
the pulpit the great principles of Christian obligation to the 
State, applicable to all alike, leaving it to the conscience and 
honesty of every man to carry them out by the loyalty of his 
conduct, in any party with which his own convictions of duty 
shall lead him to operate. Whatever others may do, it is 
the duty of the men of the Church to listen to the voice of 
the pulpit on this point, so long as the moral law is made a 
subject of exposition, and so long as the precept of Christ is 
binding : " Eender unto Ceesar the things that are Caesar's, 
and unto God the things that are God's." 

We are now called to mourn over a mighty calamity, which 
demands that the pulpit shall speak out. Humihated by 
the present dreadful state of public morals, as they relate to 
politics, it becomes us to reflect upon the direful causes which 
have contributed to this awful tragedy. We have more reason 
to weep for ourselves than we have to mourn for our never-to- 
be-forgotten President, who fell a victim to villainy in the 
rightful discharge of his duties. If this treasonable spirit 



20 

which pervades the Xorth, in complicity with Southern rebel- 
lion, is not speedily jDut down, it will not he long before a 
reign of terror, like that which desolated France in former 
days, shall be roaring like a tornado over the land. The 
struggle for party purposes and power among us, is carried on 
too often irrespective of the means by which they should be 
attained, and of the legitimate end for which parties exist. 
Therefore it becomes ever}^ good man to reform or leave 
every party that is guilty of this perversion. "What but party 
rancor and wrath have brought about this deplorable state 
of tilings I And oh ! what an absurdity ! Are we not all 
brethren? Are we not all bound up in the same great 
national interest? Is it wise to let the ship of state run 
upon breakers, because of a contest about who shall huld 
the helm? Shall mutiny among the mariners be allow- 
able, when the possible result may be the destruction of ship 
and cargo and all on board ? Surely we must see that instant 
reformation must be made, or all will be lost. Every man of 
us has therefore a duty to perform toward the llulcr of his 
people and all in official subordination, which he cannot evade 
and be guiltless. 

1. "When any party succeeds in placing its men in power, 
it is the duty of all to cease opposition, and make the best of 
it. ^Yc are resj)onsible to God, who is the Author of civil so- 
ciety, for our conduct in the political relations of life we hold. 
lie is a God of order and not of confusion, and those who 
work confusion in civil society meet with stern rebukes in his 
word. Our Government is God's production. The adminis- 
tration of it is a solemn trust from llhii to us, and M'oe to the 
iiiiiii who feloniously interferes with its legitimate operations, 
liival i>arties are well enoui^h, so lonj; as thev serve as mutual 
checks ; Imt whatever party is in power, it is the solemn duly 
of its antagonist to protect it in the enjoyments of its rights, 
and iiid it in C(»mpassing the ends of good govcnniicnt and 
liiiin:in happiness. ]f errors of iidniinistration occur, reviling 
is nut tlic way t<> correct thciii ; iior In-ceding contusion the 
way of promoting the jiubiic inten'st. 

2. It is the duty, inscparMble frtMii moral order, of every 
man to rt'lVain iVoni speaking e\il ><\' the Kulcr of his people. 



\ 



21 

The President of our country is placed in possession of an 
important trust, the honorable and conscientious discharge of 
which, so far as can he, is secured by his oath of office. ITow, 
when he takes this oath, every citizen comes under a corre- 
sponding obligation, underlying and implied in the privilege 
of citizenship, to obey in all things the requirements of law ; 
and this involves the further duty of rendering such a personal 
respect for his oifice's sake, that the President shall not be re- 
viled by tongue or pen ; because all such reviling contributes 
to the damage of his official character and to his personal 
danger. 

Had all our J^orthern people acted according to this ob"\i- 
ous duty, I believe Mr. Lincoln would not have met a violent 
death. Some may say that the immediate tools of the rebel- 
lion killed him ; but when we are horrified by many of the 
N^ortli feloniously clapping hands over his murder, how can 
we avoid the conclusion that much of the dreadful sentiment 
responsible for the bloody deed originated at the !Nortli ? May 
God forgive all his detractors, and wash away their murder- 
ous sin ! 

The safety of our institutions and the strength of our Gov- 
ernment depend upon the intelligence and moral honesty of 
the masses. ISTowhere has the Christian a better opportunity 
for doing good than in his political relations. Let him carry 
the influence of his religion into this great rolling sea of hu- 
man conflict. Let his agency be especially directed to allay 
the fierceness of party strife, and by his colloquial powers and 
meekness of deportment aim to quiet the turbulence of those 
whose intemperance of language and violence of action always 
exert an evil influence dangerous to the Government. This 
country is largely indebted for its political greatness to the 
Church of Christ. From the beginning, religious and civil 
freedom have gone hand in hand for mutual protection and 
the common welfare. And unless the spirit of the religion of 
Christ continue to shed its benignant influence in regulating 
and directing public opinion with regard to official stations, 
our republican government will soon find its grave in the an- 
archy of infidel recklessness and disregard of human rights. 
Conflicting opinions and rival ambitions, uncontrolled by a 
supreme regard to the authority of God and the majesty of 



22 

law, and directed by tlie unholy alms of tlie ill-designing, will 
bring down to the dust our political fabric, to tlie joy of all 
despots and the disgrace and ruin of the theory of democracy. 

Now there is nothing to prevent this but the diffusion of 
intelligence and the religious enlightenment of the public 
conscience. This is a sphere of action in which every Christ- 
ian and good citizen will find a large work for himself to do. 
Hitherto, the wonderful transmission of the Administration 
of this great Government from one party to another, by the 
quiet power of the ballot-box, without the intimidation of 
armed men, and bloody scenes enacted by lawless desperadoes, 
has been almost regarded as a miracle by the powers of Eu- 
rope. But now, for the first time in our history, the wild 
fury of party strife has brought upon us humiliation and dis- 
grace in the eyes of the world. Oh ! it is a fearful precedent ; 
and unless the needed reformation be at once begun, by those 
who stand at the head of public influence, and who so largely 
control public opinion, dift'iising by the press a spirit of loyalty 
or insubordination, as they see fit ; unless every well-meaning 
man does his duty toward the general Government, no matter 
what party administer it, we have the gloomy prospect that 
the reign of terror, by the agency of wickedness, will soon 
put the extinguisher upon republican freedom. Let, then, the 
sins of the reviling tongue be checked, and the dangers from 
the spirit of treason will be evaded. Let the pure principles 
of tlic Gospel more pervadlngly enter our political aftairs and 
economical arrangements, and our beautiful country shall out- 
ride the storm that has so fearfully endangered her existence. 
Hitherto she has i)roved a safe asylum for all wlio have come 
to her shores. lieliglous persecution may be almost said never 
to have disgraced our land. Liberty of conscience and civil 
rights we liave been always tauglit to respect, and the march 
of improvement has never been called to a halt. We there- 
fore owe it to (iod, wc owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the 
world, that every man be a sentinel upon the walls of free- 
dom, ever ready to do his whole duty to his country and her 
rulers. 

" As ye would tliat men shall do toyou, do ye even so to them." 
This slmi)le all-comi»rehenslve rule, is the best safe-guard of 
public and private rights; and if it bo deeply impressed upon 



23 

the public conscience, and made the basis of action in our po- 
litical duties, the smiles of heaven shall be our sunshine, and 
happiness and peace be domiciled in every habitation. In- 
voking the blessing and guidance of God upon all our rulers 
and our people, we close with this command and promise: 
" Loose the hands of wickedness^ undo the heavy hurdens^ let 

THE OPPEESSED GO FKEE, BEEAK EVEEY YOKE. Then shall thy 

light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring 
forth speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; 
the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward." (Is. 58 : 6, 8.) 



A EEMINISCENCE. 

The unhappy close of life to our beloved President, has 
given to the following poem an impressive interest, and has 
suggested the propriety of its appearance in the present con- 
nection. 

Mr. F. B. Carpenter, the artist, referring, in a letter to the 
Evening Post, to a certain occasion when Mr. Lincoln spoke 
feelingly of this poem observing that he would give a great 
deal to know who wrote it, says : " Then, half closing his eyes, 
he repeated to me the lines which I inclose to you. Greatly 
pleased and interested, I told him I would like, if ever an op- 
portunity occurred, to write them down from his lips. He 
said he would some time try to give them to me. A few days 
afterward he asked me to accompany him to the temporary 
studio of Mr. Swayne, the sculptor, who was making a bust 
of him at the Treasury Department. While he was sitting 
for the bust, I was suddenly reminded of the poem, and said 
to him that then would be a good time to dictate it to me. 
He complied, and sitting upon some books at his feet, as 
nearly as I can remember, I wrote the lines down, one by one, 
from his lips." 

OH ! WHY SHOULD THK SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD ? 

Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? 
Like a swift, fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, 
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. 

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, 
Be scattered around and together be laid ; 



24 



And the young and the old, and the low and tlie high 
Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie. 

The infant a mother attended and loved ; 
The mother that infont's affection who proved ; 
The husband that mother and infant who blessed — 
Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest. 

The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne ; 
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn ; 
The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave. 
Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave. 

The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap ; 
The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep ; 
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread, 
Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 

So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed 
That withers away to let others succeed ; 
So the multitude comes, even those we behold, 
To repeat every tale that has often been told. 

For we are the same that our fathers have been ; 
We see the same sights our fathers have seen — 
^Ve drink the same stream and view the same sun — 
And ran the same course our fathers have run. 

The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think ; 
From the death wc are shrinking our fathers would shrink ; 
To the life we arc clinging they also would cling ; 
But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing. 

They loved, but the story we cannot unfold ; 
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold; 
They grieved, but no wail from their slumber will come; 
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 

They dieil, ay ! they died ; wc things that are now, 
Tliut walk on the turf that lies over their brow, 
And make in their dwellings a transient abode, 
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. 

Yea ! liope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
We mingle together in sunshine and rain ; 
Ami the .Muile and tlie tear, the .song and tho dirge, 
Sti.i follow each other, like surge upon surge. 

'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath ; 
From the l)lossom of health to tlie jialeness of death, 
IVoni till" gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud — 
Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 



